It is commonly observed with many toothed animals, including cats and dogs, that they chew objects they do not consume. This may be appreciated as a means by which an animal cleans its teeth and mouth by loosening and removing oral debris through the process and mechanisms of chewing. Of course, certain objects chewed may not promote, and may actually worsen, oral hygiene, for example consumer electronics, furniture and garbage.
Some pet owners, zookeepers and others interacting with animals may attempt to improve an animal's oral hygiene by enlisting veterinary services or similar whereby the teeth and/or gum line of an animal are periodically brushed, scraped, flossed, sprayed or otherwise cleaned as determined appropriate. Oral care services cost money, occupy time, cause inconvenience, and the procedures may not be well-tolerated by every animal.
There is a thus a continuing, ongoing need for an apparatus in the form of an oral care chew for animals that leverages an animal's chewing and/or oral grasping activities to help maintain the animal's oral hygiene, and minimize human intervention, by cleaning and stimulating the animal's teeth and gum line through a flossing-type action. In particular, the animal chew should stabilize one or more layers of mesh so that, as the animal's teeth move and penetrate gaps between filaments or bundles of filaments in the mesh, the teeth and other oral surfaces are brought into contact with multiple filaments, the friction created thereby loosening, and the mesh trapping, accumulated plaques, oral debris and/or other undesirable substances. Further, such chew should be configurable during manufacture to account for physical differences among various animals in terms of their respective mouth dimensions, tooth dimensions, bite forces and other physical and behavioral attributes of an animal. Preferably, such an animal chew should include components replaceable or otherwise maintainable by a human associating with an animal. It is also preferred that an oral care chew for animals contain one or more aromatics, for example meat scent or flavorings, spearmint, anise or catnip, as inducement for an animal to approach the article and chew or grasp it using the mouth.